Dear Reader,

Yesterday I read The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger. I think that the novel does not need any introduction, but I’ll leave here the Wikipedia reference anyway.
I’m not going to write about the merits of the novel, but rather to tell the story of how I came to desire reading it. Besides the omnipresent cultural hints, it was a song from Billy Joel that started the fire in me:

The song is a breathless marathon of 119 references to historical events, places, politicians, celebrities that spans in chronological order from 1949, the year of birth of Billy Joel, to 1989, the year the song was released. I was immediately fascinated by it, it’s a source of pleasure for history buffs and has an energetic, uplifting feeling. If you want to go deep into History’s rabbit hole, you can read all the references at this link. The reference to The Catcher in the Rye is at 0:58.

The song originated from a conversation between Sean Lennon and Joel: the former stating that in the fifties not much did happen, and Joel wanted to prove the opposite. So, the point of the lyrics is that “the fire” (i.e. big events, wars, humanity misbehaving, hypes…) did not originate yesterday: it has always been with us.

Pessimistically, this means that humanity will not probably change much in the future as well.

Optimistically, this means that we can look at the whole history of humanity to come up with useful insights and analysis.

Back to Salinger, the book describes a couple of day in the life of a tormented cynical adolescent. At one point near the end, a former professor of the boy addresses the feeling of alienation typical of adolescence with these words, uttered while sipping a heavy cocktail:

Among other things, you’ll find that you’re not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. You’re by no means alone on that score, you’ll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You’ll learn from them — if you want to. Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It’s a beautiful reciprocal arrangement.

J.D. Salinger

So, History has been the same over and over. Human feelings and biases have been the same since well before the first written word. I think we shouldn’t fret if we experience a strange moment in our life, in our country, in our culture. There is plenty of wisdom in the heritage of humankind, and there are plenty of books and words which brings timeless advice to anyone in need.

Until next time, don’t panic, sit down and dig deep. You’ll find an answer.